the United States. My object is simply to society extremely unfavourable to the proshow how it operates as one of the great-viding of a sufficient number of churches est obstacles to the promotion of religion; and, as such, militates against the success of the voluntary system there. Slavery, indeed, may easily be shown to be peculiarly an obstacle to that system. I might mention, that the reluctance of slaves to worship in the same congregation with their masters is unfavourable to the interests of true piety. That there is such a reluctance, every one knows who has had much to do with the institution of slavery. It often shows itself in the hesitation of slaves to come to the family altar, even in families which are known to treat them with kindness. This fact is easily accounted for. Human nature, however degraded, and whether wearing a black or a white skin, has still some remains of pride, or, rather, some consciousness of what is due to itself, and it is not wonderful that it avoids as much as possible coming into contact with persons, however worthy and kind they may be, to whom it feels itself placed in ignoble subjection. Therefore it is that the negro of our Southern States prefers going to a church composed of people of his own colour, and where no whites appear. Slaves, also, sometimes prefer places of worship where greater latitude is allowed for noisy excitement, to whatever denomination of Christians they may belong, than would be tolerated in the religious assemblies of white people. I am not aware that I have exaggerated, as some may think, the repugnance of the slaves to join in religious worship with their masters. One thing is certain: that, whether from such repugnance, or some other cause, the slaves like better to meet by themselves, wherever allowed to do so. That the separation of the two classes thus occasioned is injurious to the spiritual interests of both, must be evident from a moment's consideration. So long as slavery exists in the world, the Gospel enjoins their appropriate duties upon both masters and slaves, and they should be made to hear of those duties in each other's presence. This should be done kindly, but also faithfully. And no Christian master can excuse Mimself from doing the duty which he owes to his slave, in relation to his spiritual and immortal interests, by saying that he permits him to go he hardly knows whither, and to be taught those things which concern his highest happiness by he knows not whom. Where, indeed, the master himself is wholly indifferent to the subject of religion, as, alas! is too often the case, it is well that the slave is allowed and disposed to seek religious instruction anywhere. But one of the greatest evils of slavery, as respects the maintenance of Christian institutions, is, that it creates a state of and pastors for the spiritual wants of all classes-rich and poor, slaves and free. This holds especially in the case of large landed estates, with many hundred slaves in the possession of a small number of rich proprietors. In such circumstances, a church capable of containing one or two hundred persons might, perhaps, accommodate all the masters and their families within the compass of a very large parish, whereas an immense edifice would be required for the accommodation of all their slaves. Now, where this is the state of things, there is danger that the landowners, being few in number, may grudge the expense of maintaining a church and pastor at all, however well able to do so; or that, with horses and carriages at their command, all the rich within one vast district will join in having public worship at some central point, where few, comparatively, of the slaves and labouring white population will find it possible to attend. Where even a few of the rich proprietors are religious men, there is no difficulty in having the Gospel brought, not only to their own doors, but also to those of their slaves and other dependants. But where they are indifferent, or opposed to religion, then not only does the Gospel not reach them, but if it reaches their slaves, it must be with great difficulty, and often very irregularly. For, be it remembered, that a slave population is generally too poor to contribute anything worth mentioning for the support of the Gospel. Blessed be God, there is a way, as I shall show hereafter, by which some of the evils here spoken of may be mitigated; and that is by the system of itinerant preaching employed in the United States, so extensively, and so usefully, by the Methodists. Contemplating these difficulties, we shall come to the conclusion that if, in any part of the United States, the support of the Gospel by taxation enforced by law is better adapted to the circumstances of the people than the voluntary plan, it is in the seaboard counties of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. Still, it will be found that even there the voluntary system has not been wholly inefficient, but that, through the ministry either of fixed. or itinerant preachers of righteousness, it has carried the Gospel to the inhabitants of all classes, to an extent which, under such adverse circumstances, might seem impracticable. It must be noted, that while such are the difficulties that oppose the maintenance of a Christian ministry in the slaveholding states, there is a special necessity for the preaching of the Gospel there. It is emphatically by the "hearing" of the Word that the slaves can be expected to come to the knowledge of salvation. A most un- since the close of the second war with wise and iniquitous legislation has, in most Great Britain, in 1815. Our custom-house of those states, forbidden the teaching of books do not sufficiently distinguish bethe slaves to read! And although, doubt- tween emigrants properly so called, and less, this law is not universally obeyed, and American citizens returning from abroad. here and there a good many slaves do Again, many of the emigrants enter the both read and teach others to do so pri- United States by way of Canada, those esvately, yet it is from the voice of the living pecially who come from the British islteacher that the great bulk of that class in ands, and no exact enumeration of these, the United States must receive instruction it is believed, is kept on the frontier. Sixty in divine things. Thanks be to God! no thousand foreigners, it has been supposed, Legislature in any state has forbidden the have annually entered the United States preaching of the Gospel to those who are for several years past with the view of in the bonds of slavery; and many thou-settling there. According to the report sands of them, it is believed, have not heard it in vain. I conclude by stating that slavery exists in thirteen states-those which form the southern half of the Union-and in one territory, that of Florida. It does not exist in the other thirteen, nor in the two important Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa. The states in which it exists are Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. CHAPTER XVI. of the Secretary of State, 70,509 foreigners arrived in 1839, of whom 34,213 were from Great Britain, and 30,014 from the Continent of Europe; the remainder were from South America, Texas, the West Indies, &c. This is probably too low an estimate. From tables published in England, it appears that from 1825 to 1837 inclusive, no fewer than 300,259 left Great Britain and Ireland for the United States, and also that the number had increased every year until 1836, when it reached 37,774. . In 1837 the number was 36,770. It is quite certain, I think, that the emigrants from the Continent of Europe, consisting almost entirely of Germans, from Germany proper and Alsace, Swiss, and French, are nearly if not quite as numerous as those from the British islands; and FROM THE VAST IMMIGRATION FROM FOR- United States, from all quarters, must be if so, the total number of emigrants to the OBSTACLES WHICH THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM EIGN COUNTRIES. Ir is superfluous to say that the immigration from Europe of such excellent persons as many of those were who founded the American colonies, or who joined them in the days of their infancy, could not fail to be a blessing to the country. But the emigration to the United States at the present day is of a very different character. Whatever violent persecution there may have been in Europe during the last seventy years has been limited in extent, and of short duration, so that the emigration from the Old World to America, during that period, must be referred to worldly considerations, not to the force of religious convictions leading men to seek for the enjoyment of religious liberty. In fact, to improve their worldly condition, to provide a home for their children in a thriving country, to rejoin friends who had gone before them, or to escape from what they deemed civil oppression in Europe-such, generally, have been the motives that have prompted the recent emigrations to America. To these we must add a different class-that of men who have left their country, as has been said, "for their country's good;" nor is the number of such inconsiderable. It is difficult to discover to what extent emigrants have poured into the United States since the Revolution, and especially nearer 70,000 than 60,000. It must not be supposed, however, that all the foreigners who come to the United States are emigrants. Many come only to make a longer or shorter stay, as merchants and traders, and some, after having arrived with the intention of remaining, become dissatisfied, and return to their native country. In short, it is impossible to discover, with any degree of accuracy, the real yearly augmentation of the population of the United States arising from immigration. I am inclined to believe that it is sometimes greatly overrated, and that it. does not much exceed 60,000, or, at most, 70,000. Now, although among these emigrants there are many respectable people, and some who bring with them no inconsiderable amount of property, duty compels me to say, that very many of them are not only very poor, but ignorant, also, and depraved. Of those from Ireland, very many are intemperate, and ill qualified to succeed in a new country. Should the Temperance cause, indeed, continue to prosper in Ireland as it has done for some years past under Father Matthew's efforts, we may hope for an improvement in the "Irish importation." Of the Germans, likewise, a great many are poor, and some are of improvident and depraved habits; although, in the mass, they are much superior to the Irish in point of frugality and sobriety. Many of the Germans have of late years brought with them considerable sums of money, and though a good many are Roman Catholics, yet the majority are Protestants. A large proportion of them now come from the kingdoms of Wurtemberg and Bavaria, and from the Duchy of Baden; whereas, in former times, they came chiefly from the eastern and northern parts of Germany. Now, although, no doubt, the mortality among these emigrants from Europe, caused by exposure, anxiety, fatigue, and diseases incident to a strange climate, is far greater than among native Americans, yet the yearly accession of so many people, ignorant in a degree of the nature of our institutions, about half of them unable to speak English, and nearly half of them, also, Roman Catholics, must impose a heavy responsibility, and a great amount of labour upon the churches in order to provide them with the means of grace. Everything possible must be done for the adults among them, but hope can be entertained chiefly for the young. These grow up speaking the language and breathing the spirit of their adopted country, and thus the process of assimilation goes steadily on. In a thousand ways the emigrants who are, as it were, cast upon our shores, are brought into contact with a better religious influence than that to which many of them have been accustomed in the Old World. Every year some of them are gathered into our churches, while, as I have said, their children grow up Americans in their feelings and habits. All this is especially true of the emigrants who, meaning to make the country their home, strive to identify themselves with it. There are others, however, and particularly those who, having come to make their fortunes as merchants and traders, calculate upon returning to Europe, that never become American in feeling and spirit. From such no aid is to be expected in the benevolent efforts made by Christians to promote good objects among us. emigrants from the British islands, but they are chiefly to be found among the lowest class of them. Thus, as I remarked before, while the emigration from Europe to the United States brings us no inconsiderable number of worthy people, it introduces also a large amount of ignorance, poverty, and vice. Besides this, it is difficult to supply with religious institutions, and it takes long to Americanise, if I may use the expression, in feeling, conduct, and language, those multitudes from the Continent of Europe who cannot understand or speak English. Many of the Germans, in particular, in consequence of the impossibility of finding a sufficient number of fit men to preach in German, were at one time sadly destitute of the means of grace in their dispersion over the country. But within the last fifteen years a brighter prospect has opened upon that part of our population, as I shall have to show in its place. I have not charged upon the ordinary emigration to the shores of America the great amount of crime in the United States, which may be traced to the escape thither of criminals from Europe; for these cannot, with propriety, be regarded as constituting a part of that emigration. Nevertheless, it is the case that much of the crime committed in America, from that of the honourable merchant who scruples not to defraud the custom-house, if he can, down to the outrages of the man who disturbs the streets with his riots, is the work of foreigners. It may be said, I am sure, with the strictest truth, that in no country is a foreigner who deserves well treated with more respect and kindness than in America; in no country will he find less difference between the native and the adopted citizen; in no country do men become more readily assimilated in principle and feeling to the great body of the people, or more fully realize the fact that they form a constituent part of the nation. I have now finished the notice which I intended to take of some of the obstacles which the voluntary system has had to enI have been struck with the fact that, counter in the United States. I might mengenerally speaking, our religious societies tion others were it necessary; but I have receive their most steady support from our said enough to show that it is a mistake to Anglo-American citizens. The emigrants suppose that it has had an open field and from the British realm, English, Welsh, an easy course there. I am far from sayScotch, and Irish, rank next in the interesting that if the experiment were to be made they take in our benevolent enterprises, in an old country, where the population is and in readiness to contribute to their sup- established and almost stationary-where port. The Germans rank next, the Swiss it is homogeneous and indigenous-there next, and the French last. There is most would not be other obstacles to encounter, infidelity among the French, yet it prevails greater, perhaps, than those to be found also, to a considerable degree, among the among us, and in some respects peculiar Swiss and Germans, among the better-in- to America. I only wish these difficulformed classes of whom it is, alas! too oft- ties not to be lost sight of as we advance en to be found. There is no want of infi- in this work, and that they should be apdelity and indifference to religion among preciated at their just value when we come to speak of subjects upon which they bear. a better comprehension of the grand subject of this work. Upon the direct consideration of that subject we are now ready Such are some of the topics which I thought it of consequence to treat before-to enter. hand, that the reader might be prepared for CHAPTER I. BOOK II. THE COLONIAL ERA. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY NISTS. FOUNDERS OF NEW-ENGLAND. I HAVE already remarked, that if we would understand the civil and political institutions of the United States of America, we must trace them from their earliest origin in Anglo-Saxon times, through their various developments in succeeding ages, until they reached their present condition in our own days. tion of the art of printing by an obscure COLO-facilities for the diffusion of knowledge German, two years later, gave immense among all classes of people. The discovery of America by a Genoese adventurer, towards the close of the same century (A.D. 1492), produced a revolution in the commerce of the world. A poor monk in Germany, preaching (A.D. 1517) against indulgences, emancipated whole nations from the domination of Rome. And the fortuitous arrival of a young French lawyer who had embraced the Faith of the Reformation at an inconsiderable city in Switzerland, situated on the banks of the Rhone, followed by his settling there, and organizing its ecclesiastical and civil institutions, was connected, in the mysterious providence of Him who knows the end from the beginning, and who employs all events to advance His mighty purposes, with the establishment of free institutions in England, their diffusion in America, and their triumph in other lands. In like manner, if we would thoroughly understand the religious condition and economy of the United States, we must begin with an attentive survey of the character of the early colonists, and of the causes which brought them to America. Besides, as has been well observed,* a striking analogy may be traced between natural bodies and bodies politic. Both retain in manhood and old age more or less of the characteristic traits of their infancy and youth. All nations bear some marks of their origin, the circumstances amid which they were born, and which favoured their early development, and left an impression that stamps their whole future existence. We begin our inquiry, therefore, into the religious history and condition of the United States, by portraying, as briefly as possible, the religious character of the first colonists, who may be regarded as the founders of that commonwealth. In doing this, we shall follow neither the chronological nor the geographical order, but shall first speak of the colonists of New-England; next, of those of the South; and, finally, of those of the Middle States. This gives us the advantage at once of grouping and of The way had long been preparing for the Reformation in England by the opinions avowed by Wicliffe and his followers, and by the resistance of the government to the claims and encroachments of the ecclesiastical authorities. The light, too, which had begun to appear in Germany, cast its rays across the North Sea, and men were ere long to be found in Britain secretly cherishing the doctrines maintained by Luther. At length an energetic, but corrupt and tyrannical prince, after having been rewarded for writing against Luther, by receiving from the pope the title of "Defender of the Faith," thought fit to revenge the refusal of a divorce from his first wife by abolishing the papal supremacy in his kingdom, and transferring the headship of the Church, as well as of the State, to himself. But Henry VIII. desired to have no reformation either in the doctrines or the worship of the Church; and in his last years he revoked the general permission which he had granted for the reading of the Scriptures, being all that he had ever done in favour of the Reformation among the nobles and merchants. A tyrant at once people, and confined that privilege to the in spiritual and temporal matters, he punished every deviation from the ancient usages of the Church, and every act of non-compliance with his own arbitrary ordinances. The reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) forms a most important era in the history of England. Partly through the influence of the writings of Calvin, which had been circulated to a considerable extent in that country; partly through that of his public instructions, which had been frequented at Geneva by many young English students of divinity; but still more by the lectures of those two eminent Continental divines, Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer, who had been invited to England, and made professors of theology at Oxford and Cambridge, many persons had been prepared for that reformation in the Church which then actually took place under the auspices of Cranmer, and was carried to the length, in all essential points, at which it is now established by law. Hooper, and many other excellent men, were appointed to the most influential offices in the Church, and much progress was made in resuscitating true piety among both the clergy and the people. the Word of God-of human over divine authority; and though then but a small minority, even thus early there was evidently a growing attachment to their doctrines in the popular mind.* During the bloody reign of Edward VI.'s successor, Mary, that is, from 1553 to 1558, both parties of Protestants were exposed to danger, but especially the Puritans. Thousands fled to the Continent, and found refuge chiefly in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Emden, Wesel, Basel, Marburg, Strasburg, and Geneva. At Frankfort the dispute between the two parties was renewed with great keenness; even Calvin in vain attempted to allay it. In the end, most of the Puritans left that city and retired to Geneva, where they found the doctrine, worship, and discipline of the Church to accord with their sentiments. While residing there, they adopted for their own use a liturgy upon the plan suggested by the great Genevese reformer, and there also they translated the Bible into English.† Persecution, meanwhile, prevailed in England. Cranmer, to whom the queen in her early years had owed her life, Hooper, Rogers, and other distinguished servants of Christ, suffered death. Many of the clergy again submitted to the Roman See. But On the death of Queen Mary, many of the exiled Puritans returned, with their hatred to the ceremonies and vestments inflamed by associating them with the cruelties freshly committed at home, and by what they had seen of the simple worship of the Reformed Churches abroad. they struggled in vain to effect any substantial change. Elizabeth, who succeeded her sister Mary in 1558, would hear of no modifications of any importance in doctrine, discipline, or worship, so that in all points the Church was almost identically the same as it had been under Edward VI. While Elizabeth desired to conciliate the Romanists, the Puritans denounced all concessions to them, even in things indifferent. But the Protestants of England soon became divided into two parties. One, headed by Cranmer, then Archbishop of Canterbury, consisted of such as were opposed to great changes in the discipline and government of the Church, and wished to retain, to a certain degree, the ancient forms and ceremonies, hoping thereby to conciliate the people to the Protestant faith. To all the forms of the Romish Church the other party bore an implacable hatred, and insisted upon the rejection of even a ceremony or a vestment that was not clearly enjoined by the Word of God. Wishing to see the Church purified from every human invention, they were therefore called Puritans, a name given in reproach, but by which, in course of time, they were not averse to being distinguished. With them the Bible was the sole standard, alike for doctrines and for ceremonies, and with it The Puritans have been often and severely they would allow no decision of the hierar- blamed for what some have been pleased to call their chy, or ordinance of the king, or law of Par- obstinacy in regard to things comparatively indifferliament, to interfere. On that great found-ent. But it has been well remarked by President Quincy, in his Centennial Address at Boston, that ation they planted their feet, and were en- "the wisdom of zeal for any object is not to be couraged in so doing by Bucer, Peter Mar-measured by the particular nature of that object, but tyr, and Calvin himself.* The Church-by the nature of the principle, which the circumstanmen, as their opponents were called, de-ces of the times, or of society, have identified with such object." sired, on the other hand, to differ as little as possible from the ancient forms, and readily adopted things indifferent; but the Puritans could never sever themselves too widely from every usage of the Romish Church. For them the surplice and the square cap were things of importance, for they were the livery of superstition, and tokens of the triumph of prescription over * Strype's Memorials, vol. ii., chap. xxviii. Hallam's Constitutional History of England, vol. i., p. 140. This version was first published in 1560. So highly was it esteemed, particularly on account of its notes, that it passed through thirty editions. To both the translation and notes King James had a special dislike, alleging that the latter were full of Court, "he professed that he could never yet see a "traitorous conceits." In the conference at Hampton Bible well translated in English, but worst of all his majesty thought the Geneva to be." This version was the one chiefly used by the first emigrants to New-England, for that of King James, published in 1611, had not then passed into general use.Strype's Annals. Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court. |